Our concern here is with the kinds of en-route commerce transactions that individuals (as opposed to commercial vehicle operators) need and want to make while they are traveling.

First, think about the things you would like a personal travel assistant (PTA) to do for you regardless of how you are traveling (i.e., regardless of whether you are driving, flying etc...). It could obtain information about the pricing and availability of hotel rooms and reserve one for you based on your personal preferences. It could pre-pay for the room if you wanted it to and, if the hotel as equipped, it could even retrieve an electronic key for you (and obviate the need for you to check in). It could also obtain information about restaurants and entertainment and make the appropriate reservations.

Now, think about the things that you would like your PTA to do for you while you are driving. Obviously, it should keep you from getting lost and, if possible, it should monitor traffic conditions to keep you from getting stuck in traffic. But, there are many other things it could do as well. For example, it could monitor your gasoline usage (or you could tell it that you are low on gasoline) and it could query local gas stations to determine which one has the best prices and/or services and/or location. It could even negotiate a price for you, pre-pay, and obtain a voucher that would enable you to simply drive up, pump, and drive away. If you have special needs (e.g., ethanol or diesel) it could help you with those too. It could also help you find a parking spot. In fact, it could continually query all of the parking facilities near your destination until it found one that was suitable for you (e.g., valet service), reserve a space for you, and pay the bill (either when you enter or when you leave). One can even imagine that some parking lots would auction spots to the highest bidder (as is now popular at many electronic commerce sites) and your PTA could do the bidding for you. Finally, suppose you break down on the road. It could find an appropriate service station, call for a tow truck, and arrange for the tow truck to be paid by your auto club.

When you are traveling by air, bus or train there are also a number of things that your PTA could do for you. Obviously, it could order and pay for your meals and drinks. However, there are a number of less-obvious ways it could help as well. First, it could reserve and pay for a variety of travel aids and sundries. For example, it could reserve DVD movies or video games for your hand-held player at your originating airport or station and even arrange for you to drop them off at your destination. It might even be able to get you the movie or game for a discount if the store at your origin has too many copies and it would like to move some to your destination. It could do the same with your rental car. In addition, as you approach your destination it could contact a ``red cap'' for you (and even tip him/her) and arrange for a taxi cab or limousine. It could even tell you what the fare should be.

In other words, there are an enormous number of ways that your PTA could make your life easier while you were traveling if it were equipped to conduct en-route commerce. We now consider what is involved in making these kinds of transactions.